HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The zany, staccato rhythm of 1930s screwball comedy "On the Twentieth Century" is successfully captured in Reprise's revival of Harold Prince's 1978 Broadway production.

Composer Cy Coleman and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green based their Tony-winning musical on a 1934 film farce starring Carole Lombard and John Barrymore, and their approach is extravagantly operatic.

Coleman's music -- stylistically integrating Gilbert and Sullivan, Rossini and Offenbach -- is not in the usual Reprise mold of catchy, hummable hits and has a hyper-sophisticated "inside" feeling that may explain its minimal touring history. But a cast of fine singer-comedians and David Lee's directorial flair for musical pacing add punch to every sardonic lyric and laugh line.

For this show to soar, it needs a hilariously hammy, larger-than-life central portrayal, and as Oscar Jaffee, Bob Gunton comes through strongly, every inch an egotistical producer with a monstrously inflated ego. Plot places him on board the 20th Century Limited with his frustrated but faithful sidekicks, publicist Owen (Dan Butler) and business manager Oliver (Robert Picardo). Jaffee knows his former protegee and potent enemy Lily (Carolee Carmello) is booked on the same train and schemes to make her star in his new play so he can reverse his run of bad luck.

Carmello recently appeared on Broadway in "Kiss Me Kate," and her Lily is a marvelous match for Gunton's self-dramatization. An excellent singer, she nails the narcissism of a cinema first lady while providing balancing charm and humor. Describing her stormy relationship with Jaffee as "the fang and the claw -- the mongoose and the cobra," she fends him off while coping with Bruce (Damon Kirsche), a posing, preening lover who views her as a meal ticket. Kirsche strikes amusingly artificial attitudes and puts his own stamp on a role that first established Kevin Kline as a star. Leaping into the lunacy is Letitia (Mimi Hines), presumably an heiress who promises to back Jaffee's show but in reality a religious fanatic and deluded mental case without a dime.

The score is consistently witty, commencing with "Stranded," an ode to actors out of work, and hitting another peak when Gunton, Butler and Picardo sing "I Rise Again." Carmello establishes her comedic anger beautifully with "Never," in which she states her permanent unavailability for Gunton's show. "Five Zeros" showcases Gunton, Butler and Picardo as they celebrate a backer's check without realizing that it's bogus, and their renditions suggest every nervous investor desperate for last-second financial rescue. This segment benefits from an effervescent dance created by choreographer Kay Cole. The highly entertaining "She's a Nut" is the production's most vivid re-creation of slapstick '30s madness.

Mimi Hines performs with verve and wisely underplays a farfetched part. Mary Vanarsdel is memorable as an inept auditioning actress performing "Indian Maiden's Lament. " Best of all are Butler and Picardo, a terrific comedy team, interplaying so skillfully that they deserve a vehicle entirely their own.

Randy Gardell's costumes highlight and satirize the period with brown pinstriped suits, furs, feathers and fedoras. The bright clarity of Philip G. Allen's sound and Bradley Kaye's sleek, silver and black art deco design are assets throughout, and one of the night's happiest surprises is Reprise's first-time use of a larger orchestra -- 24 pieces, nearly triple the musicians generally employed. Under Gerald Sternbach's musical direction, this instrumental fullness adds immeasurably to the pleasure of the numbers.

Conductor Flanagan .... Bob Lauder Jr.

Stranded Actors ....... Greg Zerkle, Justin Robertson

Owen O'Malley ......... Dan Butler

Oliver Webb ........... Robert Picardo

Letitia Primrose ...... Mimi Hines

Train Secretary ....... Joanne O'Brien

Congressman Lockwood .. Greg Zerkle

Anita ................. Teressa Byrne

Oscar Jaffee .......... Bob Gunton

Maxwell Finch ......... Perry Lambert

Imelda Thornton ....... Mary Vanarsdel

Max Jacobs ............ Richard Israel

Lily Garland .......... Carolee Carmello

Bruce Granit .......... Damon Kirsche

Agnes, Lily's maid .... Diane Vincent

Dr. Johnson ........... Susanne Blakeslee

Porters ............... David Jennings, Adam Lambert, John Lathan, Don Lucas

Ensemble: Brook Ashton, Alissa-Nicole Koblentz.